


Potions Lesson - A Guide

by Imhilien



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Prose Poem, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 13:12:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7893964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imhilien/pseuds/Imhilien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes a simple gift are the ones that matter...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Potions Lesson - A Guide

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from the Harry Potter world; J.K. Rowling does. No copyright infringement is intended; I am only borrowing these characters.

Leave the sunlit halls and descend to the dungeons.

Mind the steps,

for the light is poor.

The Potions classroom is shadowed

as if light here is resented.

Perhaps it is.

 

Go to your seat

Nod and smile Hermione, when Harry talks about Quidditch,

but do not jump

when the door bangs open

and Professor Snape sweeps in.

Black clad

Tall and thin

Pale and grim

(how often does he wash his black hair?)

 

He wonders aloud if the class will learn anything useful today

(he sneers at Neville)

Or if some students will think they know more than the teacher

(do not react when he looks pointedly at you)

 

Draco will snigger as he often does.

 

You will stare back at the Professor's eyes,

tempted to see if any humanity is there in their chilly blackness,

entranced by the low-pitched purr of his voice.

But hold his stare

Until he sneers and looks away.

You may be warmed by the faint look of respect in his eyes,

but it would not be wise to reveal this.

 

Pay attention in the class

Be discreet when you help Neville,

for the professor is aware of your kindness to others

and is scornful.

(Yet he is drawn by it, and to you, like a dark, poisonous flower  
that cannot help but turn its petals to observe the sun as it sails across the sky)

 

Take notes

When he asks a question raise your hand; but not too often.

 

When he hands back an assignment to you

Thank him politely, though he may glower as if high marks are unworthy of you.

 

Do not show pity in your eyes

For the seething bitterness you see in him

Don't smile at him,

or dwell overlong on how it would feel to touch him.

To be held close.

Remember you are a Gryffindor

And that he is a Slytherin.

 

But at the end of the lesson

The others relieved to leave..

Take the apple from your bag

Picked from a sun-warmed orchard

Red and full of sweet juice.

 

Approach his desk

He is writing and will ignore you

Until you place the apple before him.

And his eyes will meet yours in disbelief

Devoid for once of bitterness...

 

As you turn to leave

He will say your name,

As if it is a new word for him.

It will be his way of saying

'Don't go...' 

 

FINIS


End file.
